$69; www.seaflush.com
While, as a Florida boy, I’ve never had to use my Sea Flush or any of its ancillary adapters to winterize any of my boat’s onboard machinery, I’ve dabbled in another of its many uses: specifically, cleaning the raw-water system on a marine air conditioner with Trac’s Barnacle Buster (www.trac-online.com), a material most mechanics agree is great for cleaning scale and other junk out of onboard cooling systems. While the process is similar to the one used for the winterization of main engines, gensets, and other equipment, there are enough differences, I’d say, to warrant a first-timer’s perusal of the pertinent video of the Sea Flush here. At any rate, the cleanout’s actually quite easy. Via its dedicated sea strainer—with the seacock closed, of course—you simply gravity-feed your air-conditioner’s raw-water system with cleaner using the Sea Flush (in league with a Shop-Vac adapter, shown here in gray, and another ancillary device called a “snorkel,” not shown). Then, let the stuff stand for an hour or so, put everything back together, and operate the unit normally, thereby magically expelling barnacles, scale, and other irritants. And yeah, the Sea Flush is a tad expensive, given that it’s little more than a large plastic funnel with bungee cords attached. But hey, when you throw in the Shop-Vac adapter (which greatly facilitates winterization), this nifty little tool (and the numerous chores it’ll perform) may well be worth it. The snorkel, by the way, costs an extra $24.
This article originally appeared in the May 2013 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
